The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-11-29

oauvS Achuy W RO up OUT WIN some mi
givings as to whether ! would be able
atand the tramp. I was told that II I won
push forward with energy I could reno
the summit and return again In 'thrt
dsya, II would be necessary to sleep
The open air on the mountain slde,
Mount Shasta is the cone OF ON extin,
volcano. II Ia made OF cinders, asheI
lava and burnt rocks that have been dill
figured and Crispel into all manner {
!, fantastic shapes by tho action Of the flerc
fires that In earlier sgea rsgsd In the II
terror Of the mountain, and burst In az
luges from It's sides. Not only is III
mountain dome ;,nolf made OF lava an,
sshss, but the ground for milea around
may say for 0 hundred miles-is strewI
With scoria and lava. ! found fragment
OF burnt rccks on the head OF tho Sscra
mento river wither they had been throw,
In soms eruption Of the old volcano.
Tho great plateau, covered with forests
surrounding tho base Of the mountain, /
ioimed Of lava, overlaid with q thin soiI
and thig soil itselt Is mostly ashes. Whs
9 tremendous fro that must have boon
Maases OF lava thousands OF feet thlcl
flowed out In every direction, and Allet
valleys and drifted In mountains, ant
piled and banked 10, o cliffs and preo!pices
and there 1t hardened into q cold ston,
hrmneus and there 1t Ia to day, and thort
1t will remain as long as the earth re
mains. The lava that flowed from Etns
Vesuvius, Strom boil or Chimborszo die
not surpass In magnitude that which was
poured from Shasta In that epoch Of fire
and ruin.
The volcano Ia now extinct. Its FIRE,
hsys spent thei, flung, but the traces re.
main. Tho great yawning crater yet
eapes wide open. That wau the tioodgatu
whence that ancient torrent OF burning
rocks burst upon tho valleys and plains
beneath. The crater ID not on tho summit
OF the mountain, ~ one might suppcse,
but Is against tho eide, a! An elevation Of
nine or ten thousand feet. II 10 O vent,
circular opening like n tunnel, and lie, i
0honlt judge, two thousand feet In di.
amster. l can be seen from q diatance OF
a hundred miles. The mouth Of the
opening 10 yet POI loot, but back in d short
diatanoe 1t is cloggcd full OF lava and burnt
rocks that gorgsd thore at the close OF the
last irruptiou, md are now hardened into
metamorphic clilf4-ifthe term msy b. al,
lowed. II the crater had remained upon,
no one can tel to what depths explorers
might have penetrated Into the caysrns OF
the earth; but it is closed; snd one cannot
make hi1 way iar in the opening.
While the volcano is nominally extinct,
yet It is not absolutely 30. Warm vspors
yet issue from tho cr8ter, but co iMpsr,
ceptible that one Ia not litely to observe
them, Z Tow yesfs ago the Scotch geolo,
Eiss, Muir, wca spending q night on shaota
When Il snow etorm came up and he VIVA
freezing. He thought Of this crater, and
made his way to II, IIo was warmed by
the hecs shat csms up from the depths
ooloW, end hia life was saved. He alter.
yards told me that his feelings we're pecu.
liar es he lay % & shelving rock far down
IN the crater, where the warm air cams up
in q current, snd lulled him into dro val.
neas, while far above him thu atorm howl.
cd and reared and whietlsd among this
c!ita, ANU the SNOW was piled in vast drif,o
ssairst the rocks and ledge5..
l iutIy resllz.d the undertaking that
lay before me "a ! started alons up Mt,
Shasta. l an contested enough to believe
that l can climb any cliff q. mountain
that any one e!EO san climb, and / can
Gllmo az isss 90 anT one, and car eudu:e
an atmosphere as atteousted, and az cold
and severe. Doth Gilbert Thompson and
Mr.. Muir told mo !hst the journey 70 ;ho
euumit and return could no. be made in
!esstbsn thlnedays isndI prepared for that
length OF pilgrimage. I carried a light
blanket that would ssYve to keen ms
warm at night; and with something to oDt
on the Journey, 1 oct out.
Il WAC an uapromiaiDg expedition to ne
from the first. l had tssn puwell for
more than o week, had s vsry core shrost
10 stNrs with, and was quits weak from
como p~nEcccuutcb bic csusu. But | hopsd
thst would feel better soon, and 40 nro.
iceeded through the wide forests of nina
and slowly up the grade, restiag Ehen /
felt tired. Before had gained an altitude
OF six thousand feet the thinneas OF the
alr sorely Oppressed, and my breath seem.
ed insufficient to support me, aud I was
obliged to rect ever? iex ninutes. I had
bsen Oh mouutsinB to the height of eleven
thousand feet without experiencing i'm
Inconvenience that I did hero at six tbou.
ssnd. doom, too, ! was STACKED with
bleeding ct the Hose, duo ! think to the
fatigue aud not to the rare atmosphere,
Say headway was GLOW and discourapino,
lu fact, I began to realize that I could not
resch the summit Of Shasta. Neither vas
I at all in a coed huaor at tho idea Of
abandoning the enterprise alter l had
come so ier for the purpose of climbing
the mountain. But, it was plainly a hope,
less case. Already ! had become very
weak, and my throat was GO eoyo and
swollen that l could scarcely drink vater.
and my hsEd sched till I was almost blind
lsiid I would 90 back to the town, rest
q lew days and then try it again. So, with
deep regret and humiliation at having un.
dertahen what ! could not carry through.
turned hack, and just at dusk that even
Ing reached S;esone, and sat down on the
railroad platform, feeling very discouraged
and w%oe-begone. II the town had ;,Sen
halt mile further ! don't think l could
have E3do IL. ! mover was nearer c1.
hausied in my life. As I sat there won.
dCring how I would get to the hotol which
was still half mile away, I heard a train
coming in the d~i1tance. l sat there til Il
stopped ct tho platform, and l i%natantly
changed all my plsna, turned nv back ar
Nit. Shasta, and in e moment WAS on tho
trsin rolling away toward the south. I
looked once again toward tho mountain,
on which the las! rays of the setting SIM
wero falling d!n'y, and the SHOWS in their
wilderness and the lsva in ita softer tints
snd colora were all clad in O lonely beauty,
and thus I saw them for the !aat time. |
turned my eyes away, and was aoon
asleep.
The next / knew, I was awakened by
the conductor, who told mo I waa in Sac.
ramento. Il var daylight. I had slept
soundly oil nigh, and felt better. j
opent q ehort time among friends in sacre.
msnto, and than passed on, two hundred
milea furthersouth, and stopped at Fresno,
where it seemed to me that I was at
home. Ihad made Fresno my hesdouar.
ters for nearly q year in 1884, aud i was
now there again, II, NJ,
EoS toilet and bathing pnrnonaa III,